The present invention relates to a security managing system, a data distribution apparatus and a portable terminal apparatus.
In general, a personal computer is separately provided with application software by means of a recording medium such as a floppy disk or a compact disk, and this application software is activated after being installed on the personal computer. In this case, a software maker ships each application software affixed with a unique product number. When a user installs and runs this application software on his or her personal computer, the user is requested to enter this product number through a keyboard as a permitting key.
In an on-line type client/server system which has a plurality of portable terminals connected to one another in a communicatable manner over a network, each client terminal acquires application software over the network. In this case, each client terminal requests the server to transfer the copy of the application software. At this time, the user enters his or her own ID (Identification) and password.
But, application software which is provided via a recording medium can be illegitimately installed in multiple times on a plurality of personal computers once the product number is known. To inhibit such illegitimate copying, it is necessary to clear the entire contents of the recording medium once the application software is installed. If the entire contents of the recording medium are deleted, however, the user cannot deal with a possible case where something goes wrong with the application software later so that reinstallation is needed. Further, this scheme enforces the user to carry out a troublesome work of clearing the contents of the recording medium every time the application software is installed.
In the case where a client terminal gains access to the server over a network, anyone who knows an authentic user ID and password can access the application software from any terminal, which may result in illegitimate access to the application software.
The same is true of the case where highly confidential important data as well as application software is provided by means of a recording medium or over a network. This conventional scheme is not therefore completely security-proof.